A Christmas All to Themselves
by StoryCrafter
Summary: Dodie really likes Chet Zipper and really wants to take him to the Christmas dance, but she's having more than a little difficulty doing asking him.
1. Everything that a Girl Could Ask For

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 1: Everything that a Girl Could Ask For

Posted: 17 Dec 2007

Dodie sighed.

She was sitting at her lunch table with Macie watching her secret crush out of the corner of her eye, admiring the way that he was eating his sandwich and carrot sticks. Like he had all the time in the world in which to do it. Even though they all had only thirty minutes for their lunch. He was the coolest boy in school. Which left only one problem. Why didn't Chet ever look at her? And after all she had done to get him to notice her too. She got a new dress, did her hair, and even put on _red_ lipstick this time.

It just didn't seem at all fair.

She sighed once again. Life hardly ever did seem fair. And there didn't seem much that she could do about it.

Until she heard something on the radio that got her attention that was.

The high school had its own radio station that the principal liked to use to increase the students' cheer across the campus. It hardly ever worked though. The students that Dodie had talked with never listen to the darn thing.

But sometimes Dodie caught herself listening to it. Like she was doing now. "All you lovebirds out there," came Courtney's familiar voice over the loudspeakers, "be sure to ask that special someone to the Christmas Dance. I know I will." Funny. It almost sounded as she was reading from a script. Which Dodie had a hard time imagining Courtney doing. She had always seemed perfectly prepared to ad-lib everything she said.

The school's annual Christmas dance was a Sadie Hawkins affair, where the girls asked the boys to the dance, and not the other way around.

But just who was Courtney going to ask anyway? Dodie found herself wondering. The number of possible candidates was running awfully thin. The competition between the girls for cute guys was quite fierce at Lucky High.

But there still might be something to Courtney's suggestion. If Chet went to the Christmas dance with her, then everything was all set. She smiled gleefully to herself. Now she had the perfect plan to get her Chet all to herself.

All she had to do was work out the details….

But first, before things got too involved, she had to ask Chet Zipper if he would go to the Christmas dance with her. A task that was fare more difficult than it would first appear. If he were to say no, than the rest of plans, whatever they might turn out to be, would be quite ruined.

Dodie didn't think she would like that very much. She had been having too much heartbreak in her life lately. If anyone had said that her new puppy would have been stuck by a stray car, she would have thought they were nuts. But that was exactly what had happened. She didn't think that she could take another heartbreak like that.

So she hesitated whenever she girded himself to ask Chet to the dance. "Go ahead, Dodie," Macie urged her. "What's the worst that happen?" Ginger would have given Dodie, but it wasn't her lunch period just then.

"He could say no."

"Oh." Macie deflated when she heard Dodie's words. Dodie wished that she could take her words back. Macie had looked so chipper when she gave her best friend that good advice. "There is that, I suppose." She too had been rejected by all the guys that she had asked this year.

Dodie took in a deep breath. "All right, Macie. I will go ask him."

"You will?" Macie's face brightened up. And she slapped Dodie on the back, catching her totally by surprise. Who could picture Macie Lightfoot slapping people on the back? Not Dodie, that's for sure! "Go get them, Tiger!"

Dodie gulped. This wasn't going to be as easy as getting a carton of milk from the store, but she knew that it needed to be done. If she didn't, then who would?

She hesitantly approached the table that Chet was sitting at today. He usually sat somewhere else. This was a blessing for Dodie, as she didn't have to walk as far.

It was also a curse, as she didn't have so far to walk.

Her palms might have been sweaty, and her mouth dry. But she did know that if she didn't ask him now, she never would. She approached him and asked, "Would you mind too much if I asked you to the Christmas dance?"

Chet looked up from his turkey and lettuce sandwich and said with a perfectly straight face, "No."


	2. Courtney's Beau

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 2: Courtney's Beau

Posted: 19 Dec 2007

"No? What do you mean no!" Dodie moved her face to within inches of Chet's. "Listen, bub. I've been steeling myself up for the past fifteen minutes to ask to the dance. And you have the nerve to tell no!" She poked him in the chest. "You have better a good excuse, pal."

Chet nodded. "I do."

"Well? What's your excuse this time?"

"Courtney is going to ask me."

"What? Of course she's not going to do that," Dodie stated flatly.

"How do you know that?"

She opened her mouth to answer, it seemed to her all rather obvious, before realizing that was a very good question. Courtney hadn't been the same fashion-conscious, popularity-seeking girl she had been before. Not since the family scandal all the way back in their freshmen year. Now she was… something else altogether. Maybe she would ask him to the dance. "I don't know," Dodie finally admitted.

"You don't know Courtney Gripling very well, do you?"

Dodie didn't have a ready answer for that. And so she let Chet get back to his sandwich as she just stood there. She was so dumbfounded that she didn't notice the girl come up behind her.

"Courtney is one of our very good friends," Macie said before Dodie knew that she was standing behind her. "Isn't that right, Dodie?"

Dodie, still speechless, simply nodded.

"Come on, Dodie," Macie said before she wrapped her arm around Dodie's. "I don't think that he's accepting your offer."

They returned to their table. And finally Dodie was able to speak. "I'm not giving up on this, Macie. I am taking Chet to the dance."

"You had better hurry, Dodie. You don't Courtney swooping in on him before you get that chance, do you?"

"You don't really believe that bit about Courtney, do you?"

"I don't know what to believe about Courtney," she said, shaking her head. "I really don't."

The rest of lunch passed in uncomfortable silence as they finished eating their lunches. Dodie had hardly been comforted by Macie's words.

Later, when Macie and Dodie met Ginger after lunch on their way to Typing class, Dodie still feel much better. The joy that Ginger was holding, however, apparently was just bursting to get out. "Guys, guess who I asked to the Christmas dance!"

Macie seemed also to be caught up in the excitement. "Who, Ginger, who!"

Ginger took in a deep breath before answering. "Darren!" Macie shared in Ginger's excitement as they held hands and jumped up and down in joy.

Dodie, on the other hand, did not join them. She did not feel much like celebrating just then.

When Ginger noticed, she stopped the hopping with Macie and asked, "What's wrong, Dodie?"

"I asked Chet, and…."

"Yeah? And?"

Dodie deflated. "He said no."

"Oh, I see." Ginger looked almost as disappointed as Dodie felt. And that was saying a lot. "Did he say why?"

"He said he was waiting for Courtney to ask him."

Ginger shook her head. "That doesn't seem too likely. Courtney's still after Will."

"Still?"

Ginger nodded.

"You would have of thought that she would have given up by now."

"Given up what by now, Dodie?" She looked up and found Courtney coming their way. She was smiling at them as she approached. She must have known something that they didn't.

"Oh hello, Courtney," Ginger said. "I didn't see you there."

"I heard what happened in the lunch room today. Rather sad really. I can't have people thinking that I'm going to ask them to the Christmas dance when I have no intention of doing anything of the sort."

"Thank you, Courtney. I owe you one."

"We shall see, Dodie. We shall see."

"You're still going to ask Will, aren't you, Courtney?" Ginger asked.

Courtney grinned. "You had better believe it."

Dodie was more than a little skeptical. "But he has already turned you down time and time again. What makes you think that anything would be different this time around?"

"It's called persistence, Dodie. If you can keep it up long, then even most stubborn boy will crack in the end."

Macie nodded. "I see what you mean. It certainly worked with me and Andrew."

Dodie beamed a smiled. "You're right, guys. If I worked at hard enough for long enough Chet will be mine."


	3. Never Taking No for an Answer

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 3: Never Taking No for an Answer

Posted: 24 Dec 2007

It wasn't until after class that Dodie was able to see Chet again. He was putting the last of his books into his locker when she reached him. He didn't look up when she approached. Maybe he didn't notice her come up to him.

Basically the story of her life.

She cleared her throat.

That got his attention. He looked in her direction, looking a tad bit annoyed. "Yes, Podie?"

"It's Dodie actually."

"Good to know. I guess." He looked expectant for an answer.

Dodie took in a deep breath. Here it comes. "Why do persist in this delusion of yours that Courtney will ask you to the Christmas dance?"

Chet rolled his eyes, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "She told me herself."

"She did what!" Dodie didn't know Courtney all that well, but that didn't seem all too likely.

"She said that she was going to ask me to the Christmas dance."

Dodie shot him a skeptical look.

"Okay, okay. She didn't say that in so many words, but she definitely said she was going to ask me."

Dodie took hold of his shoulders. "Now I want to listen to me very closely, Chet. Just what were her exact words?"

"If you must know, Dodie-"

"I do."

"She said, 'You're kinda cute, Bret. I should ask you to the dance.'"

When she realized that he wasn't saying anything more, even though he really should, she blinked. "That's it?"

Chet nodded.

"But she didn't even use your real name. She could've been taking to Brett, who was standing right there."

"How do you know that's going to happen, Chet?" Macie wondered. Dodie jumped. She hadn't even known that she was there.

Chet shrugged. "Got me."

Dodie sighed. How could an incredible hunk like Chet Zipper possibly be so dense? "I hate to break it to you, Chet. But Courtney was probably talking to Brett."

"Oh no, she was talking to me."

"Ha! There's no way that Courtney would ask _you_ to go to the Christmas dance with her."

"She so would."

They might have come to blows over it, but Macie intervened. "Might I make a suggestion?" she asked.

Dodie and Chet glared at each other before replying. "All right."

"We could go ask Courtney who she was talking to?"

Dodie liked that idea. Except for one little problem. "We could do that if Courtney hadn't left for home."

Chet agreed to ask Courtney.

If the search didn't take too long that was. He had a ball game to get to after all. Dodie was well aquatinted with Chet's mania for basketball.

"Very well, Chet," Macie agreed. "This shouldn't take too long."

"Should we split up?" Chet asked, scratching his head.

"Duh!" both Dodie and Macie told him.

"Uh… is that duh yes or duh no?" he wondered.

Dodie sighed. Men!

They split up for the search and headed off in separate directions. That way they would have better chances of finding Courtney.

Dodie started for Courtney's locker, which to her seemed the most likely place to find the former diva of Lucky Junior High. She never made it there.

She was met by Ginger on the way. "Has he said yes yet?"

Dodie shook her head. "He still thinks that Courtney will ask him to."

"Huh."

"He even thinks that she said that she will."

"But don't you think that if she was going to ask him, she would already have?"

"Yeah. But he doesn't."

"Yeah. He can be pretty dense," Ginger agreed.

"Ginger…" Dodie wished that Ginger wouldn't talk that way about Chet.

"All right. Sorry. You were saying?"

"Have you seen Courtney? I wanted to ask her about the whole 'asking Chet to the dance' thing."

Ginger nodded. "Yeah, she went to watch the basketball game."

"Oh really?"

"Yes." She inclined her head. "Isn't Chet in that game?"

Dodie nodded. "Would you mind waiting for us there while I get Macie and Chet?"

"No, sorry. I promised mom that I would help her with something."

"That's too bad."

"Not really. It is kind of important."

"Could I ask what it is?"

"You could." Ginger tapped her nose. "But it's a surprise."

As much as Dodie loved surprises, she had to get going if she ever wanted to catch up with Chet. She didn't know how long that Chet was willing to wait, and so didn't want to overestimate the time. It would be very embarrassing if she were to miss him.

But she didn't him. He found her.

It was a spot just as unassuming as the spot where Dodie had met Ginger was where she met Chet.

"Did you find her yet?" he asked.

"No. She went to the ball game."

"Then why are still here? Let's get to the game."

"All right, Chet." She smiled. "You have anything that you need me to carry?"

Chet thought for a second. "Oh gee, thanks, Dodie. Could you carry my gym bag for me?"

"Sure thing, Chet. Anything you want."


	4. His Answer Due

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 4: His Answer Due

Posted: 11 Apr 2008

"Chet, this isn't a gym. It's a book bag."

"Gym bag, book bag. What's the difference?"

Dodie sighed. Chet would always be… Chet. "Come on. Let's get to the game."

The Inter-League basketball tournament was being held in the community center as it always was at this time of year. Dodie wished that she had known that earlier. It would have saved her all that trouble tracking the place down. By the time she got there, the first half was almost over. Oh why hadn't she thought of asking Chet for a ride while she still had the chance?

However she was much relieved when she found that Chet had been on the bench the whole time, so she didn't miss any of his amazing plays.

She didn't find anything at all ironic in that.

When she sat down next to Macie and Courtney to enjoy the game, laying Chet's book bag in her lap, Courtney looked up and smiled. "Ah, I'm glad that you finally were able to join us, Dodie."

"What took you, Dodie?" Macie had a look of concern on her face. "We were starting to get worried."

"I had trouble finding the place."

"Why didn't you use the directions that I gave you?" Courtney asked.

"You mean these directions, Courtney?" Dodie showed the piece of paper that she pulled out of her pocket.

Out of Courtney's pocket.

"Oh now how did that get into there?" Dodie felt a tad bit annoyed with her just then. It wasn't the first that Courtney had forgotten to give her directions that she had promised to give her. But Dodie tried to a little patient with her. She just wasn't used to dealing with the terminally unpopular such as Dodie was all. So instead of exploding in Courtney's face, Dodie simply sighed. Just what was she going to do with the girl? "Would you do me a favor, Courtney?"

Courtney nodded.

"If I ever asked you for directions, could you have the decency to refuse?"

Courtney frowned thoughtfully. "If that's what you want, Dodie. But I don't understand-"

"It's a favor, Courtney. You don't need to understand it. Either you do it or you don't."

"Well, I suppose that's true. Up to a certain point of course."

Dodie sighed. "Of course."

"Now if you don't mind, we have a game to watch."

Dodie flashed embarrassment. "Oh, right. Of course."

The second half began well enough. Chet's team got ten dunks over the other guys, whoever they were, in the first seven minutes of play. Or so it seemed to Dodie. She didn't know all that much about basketball.

But then things turned sour for the home team. Even Dodie could tell _that_ much. The truth was plain as night on the scoreboard. The Wolverines just kept getting 3-pointer after 3-pointer.

Even though Dodie wasn't that much of a basketball fan, though she did know about how many points putting the little ball into the little circle had, she still rooted her man ahead. As Chet's girlfriend what choice did she have?

"Do you think that the Porcupines would be able to pull an upset?" Courtney whispered into her ear.

Dodie nodded, hoping and praying that she was right. Even though she didn't see how. That was what they called faith, she supposed.

But as it turned out, they didn't. The Wolverines beat them 97 to 25. It wasn't even close. Fortunately for Dodie, she wasn't all that big of a basketball fan. Whatever the cause for the Porcupines' defeat, she was sure that it wasn't Chet's fault.

After the game she met Chet just outside the locker room. "You guys didn't do so well, did you?"

"No."

"So what are you planning on doing now?"

"Going home I guess." He started to leave.

"Wait!"

He did.

"Don't you want your books back first?"

"Oh, right. Thanks." He reached out to get them from Dodie.

But she didn't give them to him right away.

"What is it, Dodie?"

"Before I give these to you, I want you to promise me something."

"Be serious, Dodie." He tried to take the books away from her, but she pulled them away. "I really need those books."

"Promise first. Then you get your books."

"Fine then, Dodie. If it will get my books back, then I'll go to the stupid dance with you."

Dodie grinned. It was the answer that Dodie had been waiting for all day.


	5. At the Dance

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 5: At the Dance

Posted: 28 Aug 2008

She thought her heart would burst from all the excitement. Dodie had known that this would be a special night. But the thing of it was that she knew that in her head. Not in her heart. To think that she was about to dance with the best-looking boy in school. Chet Zipper. Who knew when she would another opportunity such as this? Her heart seemed to want to escape her chest for calmer waters.

"Why do you suppose that they have the dance in the gym, Dodie?" Macie and Dodie were resting at a table between dances while their dates while their dates where away. What were they up to? Dodie wondered.

She shrugged. "Where else would they hold them?"

Still she wondered where their two dates had run off to. It just didn't seem like them to disappear off somewhere. But disappear they apparently did. Dodie wondered what they were up to.

Every couple but Dodie and Macie and their two dates were on the dance floor. Dodie wished that she could be out there dancing, but her date had picked one heck of time to be elsewhere. What was he _doing_ anyway?

Even Courtney was dancing with her date. So where was Chet?

Dodie stood. "Wait here, Macie. There's… there's something I need to check on."

"Is it something that I need to be concerned about?"

"No no. Not at all. Just wait here. It won't take long." She hoped.

She had wanted to make her way out of the gym unnoticed, but Courtney immediately spotted her. Dodie sighed. It looked that Courtney wanted to see her about something.

Courtney whispered something into Will's ear, the couple broke off their dance, and Courtney started in Dodie's direction. Dodie didn't think it would a very good idea to duck out of this one. Besides she was a little curious about Courtney wanted. So she waited for Courtney to come to her.

When she did, she seemed very amused with Dodie. "I think that there's something you forgot to ask me, Dodie Bishop."

Why Courtney had decided to address her that way, Dodie didn't know. But she did know that she didn't like it very much. "What do you mean, Courtney? I haven't forgotten to ask you anything?"

"Oh? Then what about your date? Brett, was it?"

"It's Chet," Dodie replied automatically. But then she remembered. "Oh yeah. I was going to ask you about you asking him to the dance, wasn't I?"

Courtney shrugged. "True. But I don't think it matters anymore since it seems that he has accepted your invitation."

Dodie nodded. Courtney was right. Chet had accepted her invitation. That was because she had held his books hostage. But still….

"Say, where is Brett anyway?"

"I don't know, Courtney. That was where I was going when you came to talk to me."

"Oh. I see." Courtney frowned. "Let's look for him together, Dodie. That little punk owes me money." Ever since her family had gone broke from all her father's legal fees, Courtney had gotten more sensitive to people not paying her back the money they owe her. "Besides, two pairs of eyes are better than one, right."

Dodie didn't bother ask what Courtney doing lending Chet money. Even though everyone knew that it was a risky proposition at best. She was sure that it wasn't any of her business. "Sure. Thanks, Courtney. I sure could use the help." She frowned. "But what about Will? Are you just going to leave him without saying a word?"

"It's all right, Dodie. He already knows." She pushed open the door, leaving Dodie feeling that she had been setup somehow, though she didn't know how.

But despite her confusion, she followed Courtney into the hallway. She still had a missing date to look for after all.

She found Courtney, once she got out there, just standing there, apparently confused about something. She looked back when the door closed behind Dodie. "Do you have any idea where he would be?"

"I think he's with Andrew, Macie's date."

"Oh-kay. Do you know where _he_ is?"

Dodie thought about it for a moment. Then she shook her head. "No. I guess not."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Figures." She suddenly grabbed Dodie's wrist. "I know where to look first. Perhaps they went out for a smoke."

"You don't mean?"

"Yes. The boys' bathroom."

"But, Courtney. We can't go in there. I don't know if you've noticed this. But we're girls!"

"Oh sure we can. True love is on the line here!"

Taken by surprise by Courtney's knowing of how she felt about Chet, Dodie allowed herself to be pulled along. To the boys' restroom of all places.

"But, Courtney, Chet doesn't smoke."

Courtney shook her head. "He smokes all right." She looked back at Dodie. "You don't him very well, do you?"

"What do you mean, Courtney?" Dodie knew everything that there was to know about Chet Zipper! From his love of sardine and pineapple pizza to his future career as a stand-up comedienne. Nobody knew Chet Zipper better than Dodie did.

Right?

After hearing Courtney ask her that question, she wasn't so sure anymore.

As they passed the displays showcasing that schools various sports team had won in the past, none more recent than a couple of years ago, Dodie wondered why Chet had never gotten one of these trophies. Or why he hasn't been in a sport other than basketball.

She didn't have much time to think about that before they were suddenly in front of the restrooms. As much as Dodie wanted her to, Courtney didn't hesitate in the slightest before pushing her way into the boys' restroom.

However they caught Chet and Andrew very much by surprise. Which had probably been Courtney's intent all along, Dodie supposed.

"What are you doing here! This is the _boys'_ restroom. Girls aren't supposed to be in."

"Oh?" Courtney rushed to him, grabbed his shirt, and stuck her face ino his. "What are _you_ doing here? You have too lovely girls who are waiting for you." Dodie blushed when Courtney called her lovely. It wasn't everyday that she got complimented by _Courtney_ of all people. While Dodie wasn't so eager to hear praise about herself from Courtney's lips, it was still nice to hear it. "What are you doing in here anyway? I can tell that you're smoking." Neither Andrew nor Chet were holding cigarettes in their hands, and there was no sign of smoke in the room. "What brought here you two yahoos to the bathroom together anyway?"

"Where's _your_ date, Courtney?" Chet countered.

"That's different. We girls invited you boys to this dance. Not the other way around." As if that made any difference. But Dodie didn't argue. She was way more on Courtney's side than she was on Chet's side. He was supposed to be with _her_ in the gymnasium. Not with Andrew in the restroom.

Besides she was curious what they were up to. Two boys in the restroom together and not smoking? That just didn't seem very… normal.

Without warning, Chet and Andrew held hands. "Andrew and I have very important to tell you.

"We're…."

Dodie certainly hadn't seen that one coming.


	6. What Love Fails to Overlook

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 6: What Love Fails to Overlook

Posted: 16 Dec 2008

"We're totally gay for each other."

Courtney snorted in disgust. "Oh please. You're _so_ not gay."

"Of we are. We-"

"For one thing I really don't think real gay people say 'we're so totally gay for each other'." Dodie wondered if that were true. Courtney poked Chet in the chest. "And two, I've seen how you look at girls. Don't you dare try to deny it, mister."

"Oh right. That."

"Yes. That."

"Why are you so intent on not dating me that you come with such a ridiculous lie?" Dodie was truly not happy. She had waited for this moment for years. And he went ruining it for her.

What a jerk.

Tears flowed down her cheeks. She didn't know if she could ever love again. Chet had taken that away from her.

She wanted for his answer. It had better be good.

Chet looked away bashfully.

"Uhh… I can't think of anything better?" Dodie glared at him. Chet looked away bashfully. "I know that it's a lame excuse, but what else can I say?"

"How about the real reason that you won't dance with me?"

Chet looked away.

Dodie sighed. She hated it when guys simply refused to cooperate with her. It really bugger her.

Courtney clapped her hands together. "I have an idea."

"Oh? What's that, Coutney?" Dodie hoped that Courtney's idea was a good one. Dodie could really use one about then.

"You could let us go with a warning?" Chet suggested with a lame shrug.

"You care to repeat that?" Dodie challenged, grabbing onto his collar.

"Dodie," Courtney whispered into her ear, "don't you think that it's about time that you forgave him? It is Christmastime."

Dodie's grip on Chet's collar loosened. Should she forgive this rat-faced bastard for what he had done to her? Afterward he had said that he would dance with her? Which he hadn't done, oh by the way.

Well… he _was_ kinda cute.

And, like Courtney had said, it _was_ Christmastime.

"You're right, Courtney." She grabbed Chet's wrist and started back for the dance floor. "Come, Chet. We have a dance to get back to."

"No! I don't want to go to the dance with you!"

"Well you should have thought of that when you accepted my invitation, Chet Zipper," Dodie replied without looking back.

"But you were holding my stuff hostage."

"Details, shmetails."

Chet argued the whole way back to the gym, but Dodie ignored every single one of his protests. She was a woman on a mission. She had no time for distractions. There was just no way that this date was going to end badly for her.

That was just something she would not, could not, allow.

The dance floor was quiet when they returned. Only three couples were out there now dancing to the slow song that was being played. Dodie frowned as she tried to place it. She knew this one. She really did….

"If you keep your mouth open like that," Courtney said, "a bee is going to fly up your nose."

"A what?"

"You know. The little buzzy things that make honey."

"Right. Those things." Dodie frowned. Something was starting to bother. Why was Courtney following her everywhere? Didn't she have a date of her own? And what did her nose have to do with her mouth?

Dodie sighed. There was no time to worry about such things now. She had a date of her own to worry about. Surely nothing _else_ could wrong this night.

The fire alarm rang.

"All right," she groused. "Who's the practical joker here?"

"It's probably a prank, Dodie," Courtney said, "but I think that they want to take it seriously."

Students were already filing out of the gym. "Yeah. I see what you mean." The music had already stopped too. It seemed like everyone else was already taking it seriously. Dodie sighed once again. "Oh well. It was fun while it lasted."

Courtney smiled. "I'm sure that the fire alarm would be called off soon and we can get back to the dance."

As they shuffled out of the back door and out into the cold, not-so-bleak December evening, Dodie began to suspect that Chet might have something to do with the fire-alarm prank. He had already had motive enough. And boys usually didn't think about the consequences about their actions.

But Dodie couldn't spot him from where she was standing, so that left only one thing to do. "Now where is he?"

"Where's who, Dodie?"

Dodie was surprised to hear Macie's voice instead of Courtney's. "Macie? What are _you_ doing here?"

"Pardon?"

"I'm sorry, Macie. I guess I got a little excited there."

"Uh-huh." She didn't look very mollified.

Unfortunately Dodie was far too much in hurry to do much of anything about it. "Where did Courtney go?"

"Darned if I know." Macie shrugged. "Why do you ask?"

Dodie shook her head. "No. It isn't important. But have you seen Chet anywhere, Macie?"

"Yeah, Dodie. He's out here with the rest of us."

Dodie grabbed onto Macie's shoulders. "Where, Macie? Where?"

"He's standing by the pothole."

"Thanks for the heads up, Macie." Dodie took off before Macie could say another thing. "Is it important?"

"You can say that again, Macie!"

Dodie eventually found Chet where Macie had said he was. At the big pothole in the parking lot that the school had yet to fill in. It covered several parking lots actually. When were they going to fix that? The place was starting to fall down around their ears. Did they care nothing for us kids?

As Dodie approached she noticed that he was talking with some of his friends in very hushed tones, so she couldn't hear what they were saying. But she did not doubt that they were discussing doing some further mischief. That was what juvenile boys talk about when the huddle together and talk in hushed voices. It's what they did. And no doubt it had something to do with the prank with the fire alarm.

But how to catch them? No doubt they were watching out for any eavesdroppers on their little chat together.

Wait a minute. No, they weren't. They were too busy trying to out do each other with the volume of their voice to notice little ole her as she snuck in close enough to hear what they were actually saying.

With newfound determination in her veins, Dodie, as non-chalet as she could possibly manage, slowly made her way toward them. Hopefully she could find out what they were up to before they caught onto her presence. Secrecy after all was the best way to help find out what some one is up to.

"We do have the gym cleared," Mitchell, a black-haired boy with a woolen hat, said. "So when can we start?"

"Not now," Chet answered, waving his arms. "Later. When it, uh, clears up some."

Dodie couldn't believe what she was hearing. There had to be some kind of mistake in there somewhere. "You pulled the fire alarm just so that you can play some ball with your friends!" she blurted out before she could stop herself.

"Dodie!" Chet looked very surprised to see her. Her attempt at stealth must have worked. "It's not what you think!"

"I've enough of your lies, Chet Zipper. We're, as of now, over!"

She walked away without looking back.


	7. Chet's Surprise

As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 7: Chet's Surprise

Posted: 31 Dec 2008

"Dodie! Wait!"

Dodie ignored his pleas. He had had his chance. And he had blown it.

Big time.

She was so upset that she didn't talk to anyone for the rest of the night. Everybody seemed to show her concern, but she didn't care. None of what they said actually made her feel any better. So when Macie and Courtney began discuss her immediate future, she had nothing to add. She was just too depressed to think of anything.

Dodie basically kept to herself until the Dance started to wind down. There's nothing that she wanted to say to anyone at the dance, not even Macie or Courtney? But where was Ginger? There was something on Dodie's mind that she was sure that only Ginger could help her with. What exactly was she helping her mother with? They were supposed to be best friends. What's this about keeping secrets from each other? Ginger was probably off somewhere having the time of her life with Darren!

"It isn't Ginger's fault that Chet turned out to be a complete jerk."

Dodie looked up. Was she saying that stuff? "I know that."

"Then why are you blaming her?"

"I'm not, Macie."

"Well it sure seems like it."

Dodie snapped. "How did this turn into be about Ginger?"

"I don't know, Dodie. You tell me."

Dodie sighed. "This isn't getting us anywhere. I want to go home."

"Are you sure, Dodie? The party is-"

"Yes, I'm sure, Macie. I want to go home."

The trip home with Macie and Andrew didn't improve Dodie's mood any, despite their well-meaning attempts to raise her spirits. She asked them to leave her be, so they spent the rest of the trip to the Dodie's in silence. And her only company was her thoughts. Which, despite her not wanting them to, seemed to dwell on Chet's betrayal. He probably only pulled the fire alarm to ditch her. "If he didn't want to go to the dance with me," she said suddenly, "he should have said no."

"You did hold his books hostage, Dodie," Macie said from the front passenger side.

"That's different."

Macie shrugged. "If you say so, Dodie."

Soon after they arrived at Dodie's house. Her family met her at the door, but she paid them no mind as she went straight up to bed. She didn't bother to put on her pajamas. She just stripped off her gown and fell onto the bed. She was asleep in no time at all.

She was awakened a short time later by a knock on her door. "Yes?" she answered without raising her head. She was hardly in the mood for distractions.

"It's Chet." Her mother sounded something. "He wants to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to _him_. Tell him to come back. In the morning."

"He's got a surprise."

"He can leave it on the porch for I all care."

"But he had came all this way to see you."

"He doesn't live _that_ far away."

"Deidre Hortense," Mrs. Bishop said sharply.

"All right, mother. I'm coming." She got up, put on a pair of jeans and the T-shirt she had gotten at last year's fair, and went downstairs. Where she found Chet waiting for her. "Hello, Chet," she said icily. "What brings you by?"

"I, uh, wanted to make up with you."

"A likely story," Dodie huffed.

"But it's true."

Dodie grabbed his arm and dragged him into the closet and shut the door behind them. "Okay, what's the real reason that you're here?"

"Like I told you already. I wanted to make up with you. I know I was a complete donkey tonight and I wanted to show how sorry I was."

"You mean a complete a-"

"Yeah, something like that. So you will take me back then?"

"What about the fire alarm."

"Oh that. Mitchell lit up a cigarette at the dance tonight. Who knew that the sprinkler system could be so sensitive?"

"Yeah." She reached for the knob. "I'll think about it." What that 'it' was she wasn't sure, but she will definitively think about it.

She tried to turn to the knob, but the door stubbornly refused to open for her.

"Oh, my gosh!" Dodie said. "We're trapped!"

Chet smiled. "Hey. It could be worse."

"Could be worse? How can it get any worse?" Dodie started to pace as much as she could in such a confined space. "This is all your fault I'll have you know!"

Chet lowered his head. "You're right, Dodie. It is."

Dodie froze in mid-step. She had been wanting to get an admission of guilt for him. But this had been far too easy. She immediately suspected a trick from him. "You really think so?"

Chet nodded. "Yes, Dodie. This whole evening has been my fault."

"But I'm the one who held your-"

"That's all right. You were probably just eager to take me to the dance."

"Yeah." Dodie kicked her foot bashfully. "Now what do we do? We're still stuck in here you know."

"Not anymore."

"What do you mean? We…." Dodie trailed off there when she saw Chet turn the knob and the door open. "How did you do that?"

"Someone on the outside must have unblocked it," he explained cryptically.

"'Unblocked it'? Who would have blocked it in the first place?" She made a funny face. "And why?"

"So that you two can finally get together."

Dodie gaped. "Mom! You did this?"

"Of course, Deidre Hortense. Who else around this house would have done this?"

"Uhmm…" Upon reflection, though, her mother did have a good point. Nobody else would have done something this. It wasn't like her father. And Hoodsey wouldn't dare. "But why?"

Mrs. Bishop shrugged. "He seems a nice enough boy." She nodded toward the kitchen. "Come. There's something that I have to show you."

"What is it?"

Mrs. Bishop smiled. "It's a surprise."

Dodie frowned, but followed her mother anyway. There was something that she wanted to show her. And Dodie was a little curious as to what it was herself.

She gasped when she saw what was waiting for her in the kitchen. "Oh my gosh! You really shouldn't have," she said. She even sort of meant it. But most of her screamed to herself that she really did deserve this. She had been through a lot tonight after all.

Standing around the table were her family, Ginger and her family, and Macie and Andrew. And on the table was apparently a full-course meal covered by a green tablecloth that Dodie had never seen before. "Go ahead, Dodie," Mrs. Foutley said. "Take the cloth off. It's _your_ party after all." She smiled. "But be careful. This cloth doesn't belong to me. It's the Griplings'."

Oh my! Even Courtney was involved in this. "What did I ever to do to deserve all this?"

"It was your turn," Ginger said shrugging.

"Okay." Dodie didn't know what she was talking about, but that was all right. Her friends and family wer all together for this Christmas, and that was what counted.

She, with some help from Ginger and Macie, took the tablecloth from the table.

She began to weep from joy. All of Dodie's favorite Christmas fixings right there all laid out on the table. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce. "Thank you all. But couldn't this wait until my birthday."

"Why wait?" Chet said, with his hands in his pockets and half-looking in Dodie's direction. "Christmas is so much closer than your birthday, Dodie."

"And the whole thing was Chet's idea too," Ginger added.

Dodie smiled bashfully. "Ah I see." She kissed Chet on his cheek. "Thank you, Chet."

Chet began to blush all the more. "You're welcome."

Hoodsey pulled out a chair and sat down. "Now that's settled, let's eat. I'm starved."

Dodie laughed. This was turning out to be the best Christmas ever.


End file.
